Monday, December 12, 2012

Tomorrow’s the birth anniversary of Phillips Brooks (1835), clergyman and composer of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, the end of the North and South Korean War (1991), Sweden’s Santa Lucia Day (festival of lights) and Archie Moore’s birth anniversary (1913-a colorful boxer who lied about his age to fight, held the light-weight title for nine years, married five times, had an unusual diet and was quite outspoken on many items.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant is up for a license renewal. Sold to Exelon, First Energy, in 2009 it has received two short term license renewals (one year each) and is now looking for a long term renewal (until 2049). Exelon does not want to do an environmental impact study. The last comprehensive study was done around 1970 when they were first getting ready to operate. Exelon says things have not changed that much to warrent a new comprehensive study. For one thing, they want it licensed for years longer than it was designed to last. I would say on those grounds alone, an impact study is needed. For another thing, this is a year after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. There are concerns about the possibility of a loss of power to the plant and whether there is enough back up on site to keep the nuclear rods cool. Nuclear energy is a very dangerous power source, we can’t take short cuts here. Nuclear waste is going to last longer than humankind has been on earth. This is not the same as me doing poor schedule management and serving my breakfasts late.

Did you see where Alex Baldwin was thrown off a plane because while at a gate he was playing a game on his cell phone and was kind of loud and refused to calm down. His one version seems to differ than the six submitted by the flight crew, including the pilot that was called to help get Baldwin out of the rest room he refused to vacate. Because he refused to be civil and was asked to leave the plane, he’s boycotting the airline and sending Tweets asking others to do the same. This is the mature adult that wants to be the mayor of New York. I can see him hosting heads of state at our possibly most important city. 🙂 Considering how most of our politicians are behaving, he should fit right in.

Finished decorating the Inn last week, but both trees were crooked. That’s why I didn’t include them in the last post, here’s the more conventional one in the Parlor:

I’m working on the third tree in the Ballroom for a holiday party this weekend. Any of you that have been here over the holidays may have noticed those odd oval things hanging in my front windows. They are all coconuts that I’ve spray painted and then painted holiday symbols on them like snowmen, Christmas tree, candy canes, etc.

I didn’t say they were good, but they’re cute. So I’m finishing up doing about two dozen small coconuts for the Ballroom tree. I’ll post a picture of this tree (and hopefully it will be clearer than the two above) on my next blog. Things to look forward to, anticipation. 🙂

Speaking of decorating, “Anything that’s not a solid, natural material has chemicals and toxins in it”. Making our homes more energy efficient is a good thing, but it’s trapping VOC’s (volatile organic compounds). These come into our homes everday with cleaning products, dry cleaning, new carpeting, etc. The heaviest amount of of VOC’s usually disperse after about two weeks after introduction, but they still build up. I am your white knight coming to your rescue. PLANTS! Live plants suck those nasty VOC’s out of our household air and expell oxygen. Sounds like a win win for human kind. And the best part, the most effective plants at cleaning our air are low maitenance and don’t need a “lot of sun”, a “lot of shade”, a “lot of extra care”, etc. I have about half of them in my sun room (did I mention they are easy to care for? 🙂 ). Here’s the list: Mother-in-law’s tongue (I have two varieties), Peace Lily (there’s three in the Library), Asparagus Fern (I have it’s cousin Foxtail Fern in the Parlor), English Ivy, Philodenron (slow growing in the front dining room window), Aloe vera, African Violet, Dumb Cane, Rubber Plant (they died outside), and Bamboo Palm. Go for it, get a couple of small of these plants, spread them around and see how it helps your well being. If you notice they don’t seem happy, try moving them to new locations (if the plants don’t look happy, they don’t necessarily need more sun or less sun, just try a new location. Air flow may help them adjust to your home better). Trust me, you can get into being a detective. And when you find the right combination/location you will LOVE your success! Remember, the biggest mistake most people make with plant is over watering. It’s better to under wate than over water. Also, Jack or Peterson’s are two of the best water soluable plant foods.

The Parador Inn

What Our Guests Have Said

My daughter Carey could not have picked a more beautiful place to stay with her bridesmaids the day before her wedding and the photos that the photographer captured there are enchanting. Thank you for being so accommodating with all the chaos of the wedding day preparations…hair, makeup, etc. I can’t tell friends and family enough about the Parador.